Everything That Is Not Here
by scfaritsalright
Summary: After years of trouble and heartache, Rory finally finds comfort in Jess and he soon realizes that he might be the only one who can save her. (Currently being rewritten, read authors note for more info!)


**A/N:** Hello, lovelies! So here's a revamped version of Everything That Is Not Here from my original profile (sofaritsalright). I lost the email for that account and after spending weeks trying to get back in, I gave up. Now I'm here, trying to rewrite this story because I loved it so, but I didn't know how to go about it. I hpe you all aren't mad at me for doing this. I know it'll seem a little familiar, but hopefully you'll like it.

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She's drunk. She's drunk and she cannot help herself any longer. She had to go back to the place where it all began – where her life began, where all the crazy people in her life were from and where her now estranged mother lived by herself, without a single word from her in the past years. What happened to Rory Gilmore? That's a question she asked herself as she found herself at a liquor store outside of town, purchasing two bottles of wine to drink at three in the morning in the gazebo. It seemed like the easiest route seeing as all of the Stars Hollow folk were far away in dreamland by then.

It was raining in the middle of September on a chilly night – the kind of chill that sunk in through your skin and hit you in the bones, making you freeze more than you thought possible. The rain hit her face as she stayed on the steps, drinking straight from her second bottle. It was half empty now and all she wanted was more. It wasn't that she had a drinking problem. Instead, it was the fact that she had a life problem. This wasn't the life she was supposed to have. She was supposed to go back to Yale instead of completely shrugging it off and living a life of ups and downs with her husband Logan. Yes, she was officially Rory Gilmore-Huntzberger and hated every second of it for the past couple years. All she wanted nowadays was to go back home, to see her mother again, but that seemed unlikely. For all she knew, Lorelai was spending the time hating her.

In the midst of her drunken spiral, tears started to brim her eyes, making her blue hues look like the eyes of a sad baby deer. Rory was supposed to have the world in her hands by now. She almost had it, but her grip wasn't tight enough to hold on and eventually it fell and shattered at her feet. At first, she hardly realized it, but eventually, as time wore on, she realized all of the mistakes she made. She realized that her friends were now off living a life without her and she was now a bored housewife sitting at home, secretly smoking cigarettes in the bathroom and drinking just to get through the night. This wasn't the life for her. It wasn't the life that she wanted.

The brunette had hardly noticed anything in her drunken daze, but she heard a faint voice yelling out for her. "Rory?" the confused voice asked a few times, inching closing to her, still sounding tunnel-like. "Rory." She knew that voice anywhere, but she hoped like hell that she was hallucinating. "Rory, what are you doing here?"

She looks up, seeing none other than Jess Mariano, the boy who tried to save her after she did the same for him. It was the first time that their eyes met since they were outside of the bar in New Haven. Icy blue meets chestnut brown, slowly making the world come together once again. It took Rory a few seconds to unlock her eyes from him and speak up. "Go," she told him with a stern voice. "Get the hell out of here. You never saw me."

He rubs the back of his neck, trying to figure out the girls attitude. It had been years since Rory stepped foot in Stars Hollow. Surprisingly, he had spent more time there than she had, meaning that they basically switched how they lived their lives. It wasn't that he liked the snow globe town, but it was a second home outside of Philly. "What's wrong with you?" he finally asks, furrowing his brows at her.

"Nothing's wrong with me!" she yelled loud enough that she thought some old lady was about to peep her head out the window and tell them to quiet down. "What are you even doing here, Jess?"

"What am _I_ doing here?" he scoffs, looking at her as he shakes his head, dumbfounded by her words. "What are _you_ doing here? It seems like a damn miracle that you're even standing in the middle of this town. I've been here a lot and not once in those past years have I seen golden girl Rory Gilmore pass through. So what, Rory, are you doing here?"

Jess' words cut her deep inside, wounding her like she hadn't been before. How was it possible that he was around more than she was? He hated Stars Hollow. It didn't make any sense to her. "Why is it that when I ask you to go away, you decide to stay and pry?" After ending her sentence, she was off and away, running around the town square like a mad woman, making Jess chase after her. They ran in circles until Jess was finally able to catch up and reach for her elbow, causing her to halt.

"Stop running," he says firmly as he catches his breath. "I'm pretty sure we've been in this same exact scenario before."

"I wouldn't know." It was a flat out lie. She wanted to hurt him like he did her, but even Jess could see through her.

He steps closer, looking over at her with sad eyes, wondering where the hell everything went wrong. All he wanted to do was save her. That's all he wanted still to this day.

As he stares, he catches a whiff of alcohol coming from her being, making him roll his eyes. "That definitely explains the attitude," he comments, not knowing what to think of the smell of red wine all over her.

"Can't you just leave me alone?"

Jess stays silent, instead of responding, he gently pulls on her arm and walks her across the street. He was trying to be friendly and help her back up on her feet for the night and it certainly surprised the younger Gilmore as soon as Jess whipped out a key to the diner. "You have a key now?"

A sad, crooked smile appears on the mans face as he looks over at her. "A lot of things change when you leave home for five years."


End file.
